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Abstract

We discuss and experimentally demonstrate a scheme to achieve photorefractive solitons of arbitrary linear polarization using the quadratic electro-optic effect and describe the observation of the self-trapping of a set of linear polarized beams in different positions of a paraelectric photorefractive crystal of potassium-lithium-tantalate-niobate (KLTN) biased by the inhomogeneous field produced by two miniaturized top electrodes. The polarization of the single solitons of the set is determined by the local electrostatic configuration and the underlying tunable anisotropy, which is detected through zero-field electro-activation.

Soliton output intensity distribution in the positions of the set, (a)–(e). Large arrows indicate both the approximate direction of E and of the optical polarization, crosses indicate the center of the diffracted output distribution, and the ellipses schematically indicate the local orientation of the index ellipsoid section.

Underlying soliton anisotropy (lateral lobe structure) detected through zero-field electro-optic readout, for the positions of Fig.(2). The two illuminated regions indicate the guiding index structure that forms at the sides of the soliton waveguide along the direction of the local bias field [18, 20]. In the present case, we see that the direction identified by joining the peaks of the two lateral light distributions is approximately parallel to the local direction of the polarization/electric field (the arrow).